World

A member of the Japanese yakuza criminal underworld pleaded guilty to handling nuclear material sourced from Myanmar and seeking to sell it to fund an illicit arms deal, US authorities said Wednesday.Yakuza leader Takeshi Ebisawa and co-defendant Somphop Singhasiri had previously been charged in April 2022 with drug trafficking and firearms offenses, and both were remanded.He …

Yakuza leader pleads guilty in US court to conspiring to sell nuclear material Read More »

Opponents of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday decried a worsening crackdown 48 hours before he is to be sworn in on the back of elections he is widely accused of having stolen.An opposition presidential rival and a press freedom activist were among the latest to be detained, their teams said, amid reports of critics …

Venezuela opposition decry crackdown before Maduro swearing-in Read More »

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday hailed the triumph of democracy as he oversaw the return of restored artworks two years after they were damaged during an assault on the national seats of power by his predecessor’s supporters.The 79-year-old made his first notable appearance since undergoing emergency head surgery last month, donning …

‘Democracy won’, says Lula two years after Brasilia riots Read More »

A Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 13 people, Ukrainian officials said, one of the deadliest single air attacks for weeks in the three-year war.Moscow has ramped up its strikes on Ukraine since the onset of winter, casting some of the attacks as retaliation for Kyiv firing on Russian territory …

Russian strike on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia kills 13 Read More »

An Italian journalist arrested and jailed in Iran since December has been freed and returned to Rome on Wednesday, even as a diplomatic spat between the two countries lingers over an Iranian held in Milan.A plane carrying Cecilia Sala landed at Rome’s Ciampino Airport on Wednesday afternoon, hours after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office announced …

Italian reporter jailed in Tehran returns to Italy Read More »

Mexico’s president took a swipe at Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying that the United States should be called “Mexican America,” after Trump’s vow to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”At her regular morning press conference, Claudia Sheinbaum displayed a 17th-century world map showing North America as “Mexican America.”Pointing out that the Gulf …

Mexican president trolls Trump, suggests US renamed ‘Mexican America’ Read More »

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon patrol through rocky hills and olive groves near the border with Israel, ahead of a deadline for a truce in the war with Hezbollah that some residents fear will not hold.The situation is “still very fragile”, said Indian peacekeeper Gurpyar Sharma from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) amid …

UN peacekeepers patrol in Lebanon as truce deadline nears Read More »

Opponents of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday decried a worsening crackdown 48 hours before he is to be sworn in following elections he is widely accused to have stolen.An opposition presidential rival and a press freedom activist were among the latest to be detained, their teams said, amid reports of critics being rounded up …

Opponents decry Venezuela crackdown ahead of Maduro swearing-in Read More »

In the Brazilian Amazon, workers use metal tubes to sow seedlings in rapid succession, as part of an effort to reforest the jungle with millions of trees.The project has financial backing from the United States and lucrative contracts with companies such as Google, Microsoft and the McLaren F1 team, who want to use the reforested …

In Brazil, an Amazon reforestation project seeks to redeem carbon markets Read More »